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<title>Family for the Holidays by PartyPikachu</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28229679">Family for the Holidays</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PartyPikachu/pseuds/PartyPikachu'>PartyPikachu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Half-Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Found Family, Holidays, M/M, Nothing Bad Happens AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:13:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,417</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28229679</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PartyPikachu/pseuds/PartyPikachu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Family for the Holidays</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gordon found himself in Black Mesa’s halls again, alien blood smeared against the walls, crowbar in hand. The entire place was dark and empty, and Gordon was looking desperately for an exit. He walked down the halls to find in front of him was a pit that was so deep that the bottom couldn’t even be seen, and the only way to cross would have to be with a single plank of wood.</p><p>He took a deep breath and swallowed his fear as he took a step onto the plank, and then another step. </p><p>-Just one foot in front of the other, don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look- Gordon’s thoughts were disrupted by a loud creak of the board below him, a sign that it was going to give soon.</p><p>Gordon started moving along the plank faster, but before he could finally step onto solid ground the wood gave below him, causing him to let go of his crowbar and to grab the edge of the floor. He looked down to see his crowbar, the one thing that had given him protection this entire time, falling down into the bottomless pit.</p><p>Gordon struggled to pull himself up over the ledge, but when he finally did he could see something. It was light pouring in through a hole in the wall, it must be the outside world. He got up to his feet and started running to the exit and into the light.</p><p>Outside everything was… charred. Ruined, destroyed, it was as if the entire world was burned to the ground.</p><p>“Doctor Freeeeeemaaaaaaan…”</p><p>Gordon turned around to see a man in a suit standing in the ashes and ruins of the world. He was holding a briefcase and his suit was loose on the man. He talked as if he wasn’t used to breathing.</p><p>“It seems you should… wake up… wake up and… smell the ashes…” said the mysterious man.</p><p>Gordon shot up from his nightmare and looked around the room to see he was no longer in the ruins of the world, and instead in the safety of his bedroom. His breathing was heavy and his body was covered in a cold sweat. He looked around the room to see the spot next to him in bed was empty as he could feel his heart starting to race even more, until he smelled something familiar; the smell of burning food. Gordon gave a sigh of relief upon realizing his husband was in the kitchen.</p><p>Gordon put on his glasses and walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to see Barney. His husband was desperately trying to save some pancakes, a Sisyphean task as one side was completely charred black.</p><p>Gordon was unsure what scared him more, the nightmare or that his husband could've so easily burnt the house down. He gave three gentle knocks on the kitchen table.</p><p>*knock knock knock*</p><p>Barney spun around in surprise, not expecting his husband to be up this early. His surprise though quickly turned to worry upon seeing Gordon. He put the burnt pancakes aside and went to comfort him.</p><p>“Darling, what’s wrong?” Barney asked.</p><p>“I had a bad dream. It was like the end of the world.” Gordon signed as he placed his head against Barney’s shoulder.</p><p>“Aw hun.” Barney said as he pulled Gordon in for a hug. “You’re safe here.” He said as he put his head onto Gordon’s, having them both quietly and gently sway to an invisible rhythm. </p><p>“I er, tried making your favorite, but I guess you can see how well that went.” Barney said with a chuckle.</p><p>“How about I make your second favorite, eggs and bacon? That sounds good?” Barney asked.</p><p>Gordon gave a nod of his head as he let go from hugging Barney and took a seat at the small wooden table in the kitchen. As Barney prepared the breakfast Gordon studied the table itself, all of the coffee stains and scratch marks, each one telling a story. He remembered how Barney told him about how his grandpa made this table and how it’s an important thing to him, always saying how he wanted it within the family for as long as possible.</p><p>Family… that’s such a weird thing to Gordon. For most of his life he was taught how it wasn’t something you got to choose; it was something you had to put up with.</p><p>But with Barney and his friends, that definition completely changed. He had a husband, Barney, an uncle named Kleiner, and Eli, like a brother to him. So much so that Eli even made him and Barney Alyx’s godparents, should anything happen to him. But still, he would wander in his thoughts about his blood relatives and if maybe they were the closest he would get to a home, to a family. There were doubts in his head, yes he had a strong bond with everyone, but how strong was it?</p><p>Gordon’s thoughts were interrupted when Barney placed down a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him. Barney took a seat across from Gordon and started eating his food.</p><p>“Hey hun, remember that big test you had two years ago.” Barney asked.</p><p>Gordon looked up and signed “yes I do remember. Why do you ask?”</p><p>“Well I just remembered how anxious I was about all of that. Especially with the whole… what was it?”</p><p>“Resonance cascade.” </p><p>“Yeah that. But you wanna know what made me more nervous?”</p><p>“What was that?” Gordon signed.</p><p>“Well... askin’ you to marry me.”</p><p>“Oh I remember that. Best night of my life.” Gordon signed as a smile spread upon his face.</p><p>He remembered coming home from that stressful day where he had to shut the machine off to prevent a resonance cascade, and then coming home to a romantic dinner Barney had set up for him. The twinkle in Banrey’s eyes when he got down onto one knee and asked to marry him. Gordon didn’t even wait a moment to say yes.</p><p>“You were beautiful in that half buttoned dress shirt.” Signed Gordon.</p><p>“Heh, well I’m glad you thought that. I felt like a hot mess while I was running around the apartment makin’ sure everything was ready.” Barney said with a smile.</p><p>“Well mess or not, you’re still hot.” Gordon flirtatiously signed, causing Barney’s face to turn to a light shade of crimson.</p><p>“Two years and you still know how to make me blush.” Barney said with a laugh.</p><p>Soon they finished their breakfasts and got dressed. Barney wore his parka while Gordon put on his science themed ugly sweater and got into their car to head over to Eli Vance's place. Christmas music played over the car radio as they rode over to the place, with snow covering everything. Climate change wasn’t so bad, they got snow in New Mexico for the holiday season.</p><p>They finally made it to Eli’s place to see it covered head to toe in decorations. Seems like he got really into the holiday spirit this year. They walked up to the door and gave a knock, and soon enough the door opened to Eli holding a baby Alyx in his arms.</p><p>“Gordon, Barney! You two made it! Come in, must be cold out there.” Eli said as he ushered both of them in.</p><p>The house was warm and alive with many coworkers hanging out and chatting. The lights, the air, the mood, everything felt warm, like a nice soup on a cold winter night. Board games, charades, trivia, you name it Eli had it. Of course science trivia was banned due to how everyone knew the answers.</p><p>Gordon even got to hold Alyx in his arms. She had this bright look in her eyes as she would reach up to grab his glasses and his beard. She resembled her dad in every way, from her wide open eyes to her curiosity.</p><p>The entire day passed by as everyone mingled and had fun. Soon enough it was dinner time and everyone sat at their seats while Barney helped Eli get dinner ready, smell of Christmas dinner filling the entire house. Gordon looked up and down the table filled with familiar faces of friends, everyone together on this night. </p><p>Then a realization came upon Gordon. This was his family. His friends, those who had been there for him, they were more his siblings, cousins, uncles, and parents than any blood relative ever was. This was his family.</p>
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